Abstract
Freud (1900/1938) described primary process thought as an archaic, global, nontemporal mode of consciousness in which logic and disbelief are suspended. Hypothetically, it is the form of awareness associated with mystical experiences. The Regressive Imagery Dictionary (Martindale, 1975) is a well-validated computerized content-analytic measure of primary process thought in natural language texts. The dictionary was used to assess mystic content in the King James Bible. Across the entire Bible, primary process content best fits a fifth-degree polynomial function consistent with Underhill's (1911) model of spiritual development in the prototypical Christian mystic.
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Alan N. West is a staff psychologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in White River Junction, and is a member of the faculty at Dartmouth College. His research interests include content analysis and treatment outcome studies. He has published articles on primary process in the Journal of Genetic Psychology and in the Journal of Personality Assessment.
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West, A.N. Primary process content in the King James Bible: The five stages of Christian mysticism. Comput Hum 25, 227–238 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00116077
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00116077